VU (album)

Infobox Album |
Name = VU
Type = Compilation album
Artist = The Velvet Underground


Released = February 1985
Recorded = 1968–1969, New York City, United States
Genre = Rock and roll
Length = 35:16
Label = Verve Records
Producer = The Velvet Underground
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fq5f8qbtbtz4 link]
*Robert Christgau (A) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1560&name=The+Velvet+Underground link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|5|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thevelvetunderground/albums/album/113385/review/5942275/vu March 1985] |
Last album = ""
(1974)
This album = "VU"
(1985)
Next album = "Another View"
(1986)

"VU" is an outtakes compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was released in February 1985 by Verve Records.

About the album

When The Velvet Underground moved from Verve Records (who had released their first two albums) to parent company MGM Records, they signed a two-album deal, releasing their third and eponymous album "The Velvet Underground" in March 1969. Later that same year, however, there was a management change and MGM Records' new CEO, Mike Curb, wanted to purge the record company of all acts he considered offensive to his moral standards. The Velvet Underground quickly became one of the groups blacklisted and were released from their contract. The band had, however, in the meantime recorded fourteen tracks for possible release as their second MGM album. All of these were shelved and forgotten by their record company until the early Eighties.

As Verve (by then an imprint of Polygram) prepared to re-release the band's three Verve/MGM albums on vinyl and CD, they found nineteen previously unreleased tracks: five Cale-era tracks and the fourteen "lost album" tracks, some of them in two-track mixdown format, some of them even on multitracks. The cream of the nineteen tracks was released in 1985 as "VU"; the rest was released as "Another View" in 1986.

As "VU" contains most of the unreleased 1969 tracks, it is often referred to as "The Lost Album". Listeners should bear in mind, however, that "VU" is a relatively random selection from the tracks and also that it includes two previously unreleased Cale-era tracks, "Temptation Inside Your Heart" and "Stephanie Says", which muddles the view. Since most of the material was available on multitrack (only "Ocean" is included in its original 1969 mix), engineers were able to clean up and remix the tracks. This led to criticism in some quarters, especially regarding the drum sound, which some considered too Eighties (lots of reverb). Otherwise, the album contains material that many fans feel is equal in quality to anything on the "regular" studio albums.

Drummer Maureen Tucker believes there is still one "lost" song recorded during these sessions that was not included on either "VU" or "Another View", titled "Lonesome Cowboys", which was based on an Andy Warhol film (not to be confused with "Lonesome Cowboy Bill", which was released on the "Loaded" album).

As The Velvet Underground moved from MGM to Atlantic, they re-recorded two of the songs on "VU", "Ocean" and "I'm Sticking with You", for possible inclusion on "Loaded". Neither made the cut, but no less than six of the "VU" songs would be recycled by Lou Reed during his early solo career: "I Can't Stand It" , "Lisa Says" and "Ocean" on "Lou Reed", 1972; "Andy's Chest" on "Transformer", 1972; "Stephanie Says" (became "Caroline Says II") on "Berlin", 1973; and "She's My Best Friend" on "Coney Island Baby", 1976.

It peaked in the U.S. at #85, the band's best placing.

"I'm Sticking With You" has been used in at least two films: "The Savages" and "Juno", released within days of one another in 2007.

Track listing

All tracks written by Lou Reed except "Foggy Notion" (Reed, Morrison, Yule, Tucker, Weiss)

ide A

# "I Can't Stand It" – 3:21
#*Recorded May 20, 1969
# "Stephanie Says" – 2:49
#*Recorded February 13, 1968
# "She's My Best Friend" – 2:47
#*Recorded May 14, 1969
# "Lisa Says" – 2:53
#*October 1, 1969
# "Ocean" – 5:10
#*June 19, 1969

ide B

# "Foggy Notion" – 6:41*
#*Recorded May 6, 1969
# "Temptation Inside Your Heart" – 2:30
#*Recorded February 14, 1968
# "One of These Days" – 3:50
#*Recorded September 23, 1969
# "Andy's Chest" – 2:49
#*Recorded May 13, 1969
# "I'm Sticking with You" – 2:26
#*Recorded May 13, 1969

* Note that the CD issue of VU omits the first few seconds of "Foggy Notion," which includes a false start where the Velvets are talking.

Personnel

The band

* Lou Reed – vocals, guitar
* Sterling Morrison – guitar, backing vocals
* Maureen Tucker – percussion, lead vocal on "I'm Sticking with You"
* Doug Yule – bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, lead guitar on "One of These Days", lead vocals on "She's My Best Friend" (A1, A3-5, B1, B3-5)
* John Cale – viola, bass guitar, celesta, backing vocals (A2, B2)

Technical staff

* The Velvet Underground – producers
* Gary Kellgren – engineer
* Bill Levenson – compilation executive producer
* J.C. Convertino – compilation engineer